A Wild Sheep Chase

Something I found so interesting about the whole of this novel, was the sense of vague ambiguity. So much of the novel is left very open-ended and without resolve, the protagonist is nameless, and the characters that are given names are given names that seem intentionally broad- "The Rat", "The Boss", and even the woman he meets and sleeps with multiple times is left nameless, more identified by her habits. This kind of open ended ambiguity seems to be more prevalent in Eastern horror genres, and definitely holds a different weight. Very little is known about the protagonist as a person, and the reader isn't given a lot of insight as to the complex emotions of them, whereas in western horror or mystery, often a great deal of the story is focused around how the protagonist feels and how they react to their situation and what choices they make as a result. A Wild Sheep Chase seems more focused on the situation itself. Something I found interesting as well, was the focus on the magical and supernatural, bit not grotesque, as the supernatural is often associated with the visually jarring and scary, while the things in this novel are more odd within themselves, such as the girlfriend with magically perceptive and oddly beautiful ears, the ghost of The Rat, and the sheep itself, which is found to be a malicious spirit that possesses people to pursue its own goals. Even the ending of the story is very vague and open-ended, and seems to lend itself more to situational storytelling than direct, emotional storytelling.